ASEAN countries seek drug deterrent

ASEAN countries seek drug deterrent

HANOI (AFP): The nine countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began on Thursday a conference in Hanoi on ways to protect young people from the increasing threat of drugs.

Opening the two-day meeting, Vietnamese Police Minister Le Minh Huong said Hanoi was "deeply concerned to see that drugs continue to be more and more serious, particularly among young people."

The grouping, which includes the three Golden Triangle countries of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, set itself the ambitious target in July in Manila of eradicating drugs from the region by 2020.

Drugs are easy to find and relatively cheap. They are no longer confined to marginalized groups, and socially integrated young people such as students had started experimenting, said Christian Kornevall, representative of the UN Drugs Control Program.